I think this extreme test is over the top for both the Fuji F30/31 and the Canon 800is, your fuji shot IMHO is unusable as well as this one, even a DSLR would be pushing it. Yes, the Fuji is the top compactperformer for low light, but according to a lot of owners on the Fuji forum over on dpreview can be a bit hit and miss with focus in low light.

In most situations ISO 800 should surfice for most folks, granted I have seen some good images at 1600 from the Fuji and a lot more not so good, but at 800 very nice images indeed, for daylight shots out of the Fuji I found very ordinary but look ok if post processed.

I tried using Noiseware on your Canon 800is image but as expected it is unusable.

We don't leave until about noon today, so I decided to look in on the Forum. I honestly think that Wirraway is correct. We have to have realistic expectations as to what our proposed camera really can do.

Here is a photo taken under the worst conditions that I could create in our Hampton Inn room. I took the light bulb from the beside light, which was a 40w bulb and put it into the desk lamp. Then, I drew the drapes,I turned off every other light in the room, and took the attached photo, handheld,at ISO 1600 with my Fuji S-6000.

This is just how the photo looked as it came from the camera. The only thing I have done is to run it through Neat image. i personally think that, this is just about as far as you can push the S-6000 at ISO 16000, when it is handheld, and expect a reasonable result. The Fuji F-30 is supposed to do a bit better at ISO 1600 and 3200. And you might be able to do a bit better if you were using a tripod, or had put it ob a desk and used a selftimer, as Irene did in her Fuji F-30 ISO 800 test photo.

Here is the same photo taken with the Kodak C-875 handheld at ISO 800. You will notice there are blown highlights, but more detail. It is an interesting contrast, and has lot to do with the imager design.

One last test on the way to the airport we stopped by a camera shop and I snapped this photo, using one of my one chips/cards. It is a Panasonic FZ-7 at ISO 400, handheld inside the camera shop. This is straight out of the camera. No time for post processing.

Our flight cancelled this afternoon, so we have to go tomorrow. That gave me a bit more time to experiment with the Panasonic FZ-7.

You asked for simplicity of operation. On the Mode Selector of the FZ-7 is a heart shaped symbol. The heart symbol indicates simple operation. All you have to do is to point the FZ-7, press the shutter release half way down, as the camera focuses it chimes to indicate it has achieved theproper focus, and also pops up a large green circle or doton the LCD or EVF screen. In the case of this photo, the FZ-7 set an aperture of F 3.2, used ISO 200, and set the shutter speed to 1/10th of a second.

That slow a shutter speed would result in a blur in a camera that is not IS (image stabilized). However, in this case, the FZ-7 automatically held the FZ-7 perfectly steady, and we ended up with a great photo taken WITHOUT FLASH, under normal kitchen lighting at our son's home of Bradley and our two grandchildren. I have to take back what I have said about the FZ-7 being noisey at ISO settings above ISO 200. In this case, the Auto ISO kept the ISO at ISO 200 and below, so we got a great photo.

The photo that I am posting is straight from the camera and no post processing has been applied. All I did was to resize the photo so it met the posting requirements of this Forum.

So,please take a look also at the Panasonic FZ-7. It is has an excellent 12X Optical Zoom. If the camera is too large for your tastes, take a look at the Panasonic FX-01, which has just about the same features with LESS zoom. I hope this helps.

Hi Irene - are you around? I got my Canon Powershot SD700 IS and so far I really like it. Here is a photo I took tonight in very low light. Just a 60 watt bulb lamp and that one candle going. No flash. There is noise but this is my very first attempt. I do like the fact that I have a very tiny camera and the viewfinder. This shot was taken at a high ISO (I think 800) Funny that the exact amount does not show up in my data. Did you end up getting a camera. I still have two weeks to play around before I have to make a definite decision.

And then here is one taken from my patio. This was with just the 4x zoom on the SD700 IS. I normally use my Fuji 10x for these photos but this is not bad either. I think this is a great little camera just to always have with you. Beause it is going out of stock we got a good price.